Water.
The basic building block for Carbon-based life to flourish.
We have been searching for it everywhere in Space, but where is it? It it THAT rare a phenomenon to naturally form in Space with out divine intervention from Comets?
Kind Of.
The elements of Hydrogen and Oxygen are everywhere in the Universe. Just not in liquid form. It exists as the beautiful tails of comets, miles of gaseous planets atmospheres, or as solid icy planets on the edges of solar systems.
One of the defining features of our spaceball is a perfect feng shui of just the right temperature and just the right amount of atmospheric pressure so that water doesn’t get obliterated. Liquid water needs a delicate balance: Ice must be able to melt without boiling off, but the water must stay warm enough that it does not refreeze. On Earth, with a sea level atmospheric pressure of 14.7 pounds per square inch, water is liquid between 32 and 212 degrees Fahrenheit. On the unshadowed parts of our Moon, where the atmospheric pressure is zero and daytime temperatures can exceed 260 degrees Fahrenheit, the surface ice is long gone.
Recently, NASA has found two potential sources of water on MARS as ice caps from an ancient body of water about the size of the Atlantic, and on the icy moons Jupiter and Saturn. Water does exist (or once existed) on Venus, but is speculated to have burned off in the formation of it’s volcanically active surface.
Of course, these endeavors would cost billions of our earth coins to successfully cultivate. We have had better luck bull-riding asteroids and comets with Philae probe landing on 67P. Hell, there is even a Wiki page dedicated to mining asteroids for resources.
Nonetheless, we still have hope in the vast depths of space. There is a giant floating cloud of water vapor floating around the size of 32 Jupiters. So why is it not widely talked about?
Oh yeah, It’s right next to a black hole.
Regardless of our search of habitable planets for Alien life to share our lemonade; we should be happy to know we are a little special in this universe (W/ asshole black holes).
Here is a Video from our friends at NASA about Europa’s Great Lakes:
